There are many types of limited-use or disposable protective garments designed to provide barrier properties. One type of protective apparel is protective coveralls. For example, garments, such as coveralls, can be used to effectively seal off a wearer from a harmful environment in ways that open or cloak style garments (for example, drapes, gowns and the like) are unable to do. Accordingly, coveralls have many applications where isolation of a wearer is desirable. Such protective apparel keeps clothing clean and keeps dirt and other residue off of the wearer's skin. For a variety of reasons, it is undesirable for hazardous liquids and/or pathogens that may be carried by liquids to pass through protective apparel. It is also highly desirable to use protective apparel to isolate persons from dusts, powders, and other particulates that may be present in a work place or accident site. Conversely, in cleanroom, critical manufacturing, and surgical environments, the protective apparel protects the environment from dust and debris that may otherwise be carried into the environment by the wearer.
Cleanroom manufacturing environments require garments to separate workers from the article being worked upon. Sometimes this is due to environments where the environs could harm the worker, however, more often it is due to the desire to protect the item from debris or contaminants the worker may introduce. For example, in aseptic manufacturing, various components are sterile when introduced to the aseptic environment and are assembled in the aseptic environment such that the resultant assembled article need not be sterilized. Such a manufacturing process is often found within the manufacturing and packaging of certain pharmaceuticals. Similar critical environments are also found in other areas such as certain surgical environments.
Due to the critical, sterile character of such environments, stringent protocols regarding apparel and apparel donning are followed such that no contaminants, including things such as dead skin and natural bacteria which may be present on workers' skin, are not accidentally transferred to the product or patient that the environment is structured to protect. To prevent such contamination, workers will don head-to-toe coverage, including booties, gloves, and coveralls, to protect the environment. To ensure cleanliness, workers undergo extensive training regarding the donning of such garments. The worker is careful to don such garments without touching exterior surfaces of the garment while being careful that the garment does not touch the floor. If either occurs, the worker must obtain another, uncontaminated, garment to don.
Typically, careful donning of the garments begins with the worker reaching into the garment and shortening the legs and sleeves by shortening and grasping the sleeve and leg cuffs from the inside of the garment. While maintaining hold of the shortened sleeves and legs from inside the garment, the worker will then insert one leg at a time, being careful that the leg of the garment is not allowed to touch the floor. The worker then puts on the garment one arm at a time. During these donning steps, the worker must balance and contort their body to don the garment while not touching an external surface of the garment. Such donning takes training, practice, and a high degree of balance on the part of the wearer.
Various patent references describe protective garments adapted for donning. For example, one such garment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,825 to Scheerer. That patent is directed to a garment package that is to facilitate donning of the garment with a garment that is pre-cuffed (the interior portion of garment near opening is exposed). The wearer inserts arms and legs and dons the pre-cuffed garment. Finally, the wearer must roll down the cuffs by grasping the externally-exposed interior surface of the cuff and rolling the cuff down.
Workers typically change their coveralls once a day, or every other day, depending on the requirements or standards of their respective industry. In some situations, workers may change their protective apparel even more frequently. After use, it can be quite costly to decontaminate, clean, and/or sterilize protective apparel after it has been used. Thus, it is important that protective apparel be inexpensive so as to be disposable. Generally speaking, protective coveralls are made from barrier materials/fabrics engineered to be relatively impervious to liquids and/or particulates as well as being low-linting. The cost of such materials as well as the coveralls' design and construction are important factors affecting cost. Desirably, all of these factors should be suited for the manufacture of protective garment, such as coveralls, at such low cost that it may be economical to discard the coveralls, if necessary, after only a single use.